PASADENA, TX, USA—EVAL Co. of America (EVALCA) reports it will double its production capacity, increasing it by 53 million pounds (24,000 tons) per year. According to the resin manufacturer, this expansion "is a response to the strong and growing worldwide demand for ethylene vinyl alcohol copolymer resin (trade named EVAL)."

Production capacity following the expansion, which is scheduled for completion in March 2006 at a cost of US$150 million, will be 104 million pounds (47,000 tons) per year.

According to EVALCA, its parent company, Kuraray, was first in the world to develop and commercialize the high-performance resin EVAL in 1972, "which has the highest gas impermeability of any plastic (approximately 10,000 times that of polyethylene). This superior gas barrier property makes EVAL highly trusted as a food packaging material used to preserve the freshness of a product. EVAL keeps oxygen from migrating into a package, while simultaneously preventing aromas and flavors from migrating out of a package."

The company says its EVAL resins are also used in floor heating pipe systems, chemical bottles, fuel pipes, cosmetics, wallpaper, balloons, and several other consumer and industrial applications "that require barrier to a gas, good chemical resistance, or durability."

Adds EVALCA, "Demand for this resin is rising at a rate of 10 percent or more per year. Growth is also predicted for Asia and other developing areas, where lifestyles and standards of living are on the rise."

Today Kuraray has three manufacturing plants for EVAL resin: EVALCA, located in Houston, TX, USA; Kuraray’s Okayama plant located in Japan; and EVAL Europe NV located in Belgium.

Kuraray reports its combined capacity is currently 100 million pounds (45,000 tons) per year, but the expansion of facilities at EVAL Europe NV now in progress — combined with the planned expansion at Eval Company of America — will bring combined global capacity to 180 million pounds (81,000 tons) per year in fiscal 2006.